Joined: Nov 23, 2002
Posts: 9283
Location: on the golf course, in the garden, reading, traveling, and now Consulting

Posted:
Wed Apr 03, 2013 12:44 am

TUM wrote:

Managerr wrote:

I feel like the guy who has a 10-0 during the tourney, but has yet to run into Meat or Pepp, so you know you don't have an actual chance of TC'ing.

I just saw this line, and it made me laugh out loud. I'm trying to embrace the role of villain. I'm just not that good at it! Old ADM warriors should enjoy beating up on poor Meat for the next few tourneys...

Don't know about him being their "5th best guard". They basically ran a 3 guard rotation and the guy replacing him, likely, will be a walk-on.

Here's a snippet from one article:

Kevin Ware had developed into the University of Louisville’s most versatile basketball player before he broke his right tibia in Sunday’s victory over Duke. Replacing the sophomore reserve will take, well, some versatility.

Coach Rick Pitino primarily used Peyton Siva, Russ Smith and Ware at the guard spots all season, though Ware played a bit at small forward when needed.

“We have a lot of frontcourt depth,” Pitino said. “We don’t have any backcourt depth right now, and that’ll be a problem.”

The coach will have to get a little creative as the Cardinals prepare for their NCAA Tournament semifinal game against Wichita State at 6:09 p.m. Saturday in Atlanta.

“We’re probably going to move Luke Hancock into the backcourt a little bit; maybe we’ll move Wayne Blackshear defensively into the backcourt to apply some pressure,” Pitino said. “We’re just going to have to mix (it) up.”

.......................

“As you all watched, Kevin has great speed, great length; he was playing the best basketball,” Pitino said. “So now you don’t have any backcourt rotations. You only have two backcourt players: Russ and Peyton.”

The way the Cards like to press, it would be virtually impossible for Smith and Siva to log 40 minutes each. They’d probably succumb to foul trouble or fatigue.

“You can’t play them all those minutes, so Tim Henderson is going to have to step up,” Pitino said.

Henderson, a junior walk-on who played at Christian Academy, could have the biggest role in replacing Ware. He has appeared in 25 games but has averaged just 3.5 minutes per appearance.

_________________A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.

Thomas Jefferson

Scruffy PuffAdvanced Master Poster

Joined: Jul 15, 2008
Posts: 382

Posted:
Wed Apr 03, 2013 3:00 pm

Street_Legal wrote:

Don't know about him being their "5th best guard". They basically ran a 3 guard rotation and the guy replacing him, likely, will be a walk-on.

Dude, I’m not trying to argue, just pointing out that while personally tragic for Ware, it’s not devastating to the team. He was a role player. While maybe not be the 5th best guard (depending on how you define "guard"), he’s certainly not the 2nd best guard on the team as you stated before.

Curiously, who do you think he is he better than? Smith? Siva? Hancock? Blackshear? All four of those players play guard, play it more often, and produce more (in both offense and defense). Ware comes off the bench, is on the floor less than half the game, averages 4 points per game, 1 assist, and 1 rebound. The team will probably survive in his absence.

What’s that you say? Hancock and Blackshear sometimes play in the frontcourt? True, but usually not. They mostly play in the backcourt. Their size makes them versatile, and they can play anywhere on the floor; however, they mostly play guard (as there are 3 other front court players—all of whom out produce Ware—in Dieng, Behanan, and Harrell). Ware, because of his lack of size, is limited to only the backcourt, and usually only when Smith or Siva sit down for a rest or the team is up by 20.

Pitino said some nice things about Ware in the articles you quoted. But what’s he supposed to say? I mean, the kid just broke his leg while on the floor. Of course he’s talking up Ware, talking about how much they’re going to miss him, how much they need him. He’s motivating his team.

Street_LegalArchMaster Poster

Joined: Jul 29, 2002
Posts: 3516
Location: The Big D (etroit) area

Posted:
Wed Apr 03, 2013 9:04 pm

I'm going mainly off of what guys like Greg Anthony, Charles Barkley, and various ESPN and Sports Talk guys have said about him as I haven't closely followed anyone but Michigan and Michigan State this year. Cannot recall which said what but one of them, between Barkley and Anthony, called him, "the 2nd best all-around guard on the team" whereas the other said, "2nd or 3rd best guard on the team".

Basically if you start moving Hancock to Guard to absorb the 16.1 minutes Ware averaged in the 37 games he played, as you put it ONLY at Guard, then those are minutes he isn't playing at Small Forward. In this kind of situation the only team of the remaining 3 that they could outsize in the frontcourt would be Syracuse. Otherwise you start having to fill the frontcourt, in the case of foul trouble, injury, or ineffective play your going to have to move Hancock back to the frontcourt or put in seldom used reserves like Van Treese or Price it looks like.

I don't see Wichita State neccessarily giving them trouble with size as Louisville's players far outclass theirs, in general. But if the oddsmakers are correct, Syracuse is a 2 point "Dog", Michigan's bigs can shoot from the outside as well as play down low. Although Louisville would need less shuffling against Michigan as they tend to run 3 or 4 guard lineups alot(4 if you consider GR3 a guard at 6-6). In fact they sometimes use Glenn Robinson as a "Center equivalent" position. As evidenced by playing times they don't go deep in the bench AT ALL:

This injury, IMHO, will give Michigan either a Size or Speed advantage depending on how Louisville would play them. If they stay with a standard lineup we have decent size still but have more guard-types to play "drive and kick" ball. If Louisville goes to a similar 3/4 Guard lineup Michigan will have a decent size advantage and would be facing one less top notch defender, in Ware, and facing guys one player deeper in the rotation to boot. But again I only saw about 4 of Louisville's games all year, add 2 of the tourney games makes 6 so this is just my opinion; a Homer opinion likely.

Anyways I'm not trying to argue either just opinionated banter and you gave me a reason to look closer at Louisville rather than just listening to Sir Charles and Company! I love to talk sports and the Wolverines chances at a Championship got a few percentage points higher which is exciting .... assuming they get past a tough, trapping defense, in Syracuse .... besides the fact that I would love to see 30 RUs if Michigan can win their game .... I may have to give up, "Giving up" on tournies this fall with fresh blood/recruits to look at if they do beat Syracuse!

_________________A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.

Thomas Jefferson

FLOYD1Advanced Master Poster

Joined: Feb 22, 2004
Posts: 341
Location: the BIG apple

Posted:
Thu Apr 04, 2013 3:07 am

"I may have to give up, "Giving up" on tournies this fall with fresh blood/recruits to look at if they do beat Syracuse! "

Beat Cuse? ... hahahahaha good one

Syracuse was a lock to win the NCAA after giving up a 1st half 18 point lead to Louisville in the Big East tourney. Boeheim calls those " teaching moments"

Street_LegalArchMaster Poster

Joined: Jul 29, 2002
Posts: 3516
Location: The Big D (etroit) area

Posted:
Thu Apr 04, 2013 6:05 pm

Well I hate to disappoint you but after the "Wolv's" beat you that bag on your head will come in handy .... to hide your tears!

_________________A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.

Thomas Jefferson

Street_LegalArchMaster Poster

Joined: Jul 29, 2002
Posts: 3516
Location: The Big D (etroit) area

Posted:
Sat Apr 06, 2013 8:41 pm

That game had me acting like I had Tourette's! I almost threw my remote when on back-to-back plays Hardaway shot instead of passing to a wide open McGary and when Burke tried to pass rather than shoot with McGary in perfect rebounding position.

The win moved me into the 99th percentile (top 3300 or so) but I'm still about 27 points behind 50th That information, along with the fact that a message to me said only 10.7% picked Michigan over Florida, means that everybody underestimated what many call the best offensive team in the NCAA this year.

My hats off to a very "Game" Syracuse team who had me sweating the whole night. I will now gladly be wrong on my 74-67 pick of Louisville over Michigan, as I wrapped up this bracket, and take the Championship against a VERY vulnerable looking Louisville (not that we didn't appear equally as vulnerable)!

Thanks too all for joining and giving me a shot to win my first bracket in about 6-7 years! The fact that we had 15 pickers makes me feel good that this wasn't just a fluke due to low input into the bracket; it feels earned thanks to EVERY one of you. A great many of you picked well, and it took this game to seperate and win, and I had to rely on my gut that this was the year for U of M to make a deep run!!!

Sing it with me now:
Hail to the Victors valiantHail to the conquering Heroes Hail! Hail to MichiganThe champions of the West!

GOBLUE!

_________________A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.

Thomas Jefferson

The ConsortiumArchMaster Poster

Joined: Nov 23, 2002
Posts: 9283
Location: on the golf course, in the garden, reading, traveling, and now Consulting

I'm glad it's not a rematch of the Big East title game. I was hoping that Wichita St would have pulled the upset, but they couldn't do it.

I've lost a lot of respect for Rick Pitino, after UNLV went into Louisville a few years ago and beat them and he refused to shake Lon Krueger's hand after the game!

Go Blue!

Scruffy PuffAdvanced Master Poster

Joined: Jul 15, 2008
Posts: 382

Posted:
Sun Apr 07, 2013 9:01 am

Street_Legal wrote:

Thanks too all for joining and giving me a shot to win my first bracket in about 6-7 years! The fact that we had 15 pickers makes me feel good that this wasn't just a fluke due to low input into the bracket; it feels earned thanks to EVERY one of you. A great many of you picked well, and it took this game to seperate and win...

Congrats! You earned it. I'll take solace in the fact that I had 5 more correct picks than the guy who won our bracket competition.

On a separate note, what is up with the Big East? They looked like the Big Least last night. Neither Louisville nor Syracuse showed up during their respective 1st halves. Zero intensity from both of them. They both deserved to lose.

Street_LegalArchMaster Poster

Joined: Jul 29, 2002
Posts: 3516
Location: The Big D (etroit) area

Posted:
Sun Apr 07, 2013 1:08 pm

The Consortium wrote:

Congrats, Street!

Goooo Cardinals! Peck holes in those Wolverines.

Do you wish death upon these little birdies?

To Quote the book Wolverine: A Look into the Devil's Eyes:

Cougars, Lynx, and Grizzlies have been known to relinquish a fresh carcass to him. Even a pack of wolves have given ground to a single wolverine. One specimen placed in a zoo promptly killed a polar bear.

Scruffy: I was wondering who my prey was as I chased it! Didn't recognize it as anyone's "Tag-Line" or anything. Maybe I'll take out the top 2-3 choice sheets that Dark One has pledged from his "Scrap Heap" and then randomly pick out 3 (10% of 30) and send 'em to ya'! Or if you have a specific type of warrior with specific-ish number ranges and I can get one close I'll pick it out and send you 2 random! After all you did pick the most correct games; just not the right late games

What are the odds the "Holy Grail" may have slipped into Dark One's "Scrap Heap"?

_________________A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.